Influenza (“flu”) is an infectious disease capable of inflicting upon a wide variety of hosts, including birds and mammals. Flu is caused by an RNA virus of the orthomyxoviridae family (that generally comprises the type A, B, and C influenza viruses). Avian flu is caused by a virus of this family adapted to birds, thus it is also named bird flu, avian influenza, or bird influenza. A current pandemic threat stems from an unprecedented outbreak of the H5N1 strain of the influenza A virus in Asia and Europe. This strain has an ability to mutate and adapt itself to a wide range of hosts, including birds and humans. The Homeland Security Council issued the “National Strategy for Pandemic Influenza” (“The Strategy”) in November of 2005 in response to the current pandemic threat. A critical part of that initiative focuses on the rapid identification of Avian Flu in patients and birds. The strategy seeks to improve the surveillance and detection of the Avian Flu.
As of November 2005, the virus causing the Avian Flu pandemic threat was known to have infected 121 people in four countries, resulting in 62 deaths over the past two years. Those infected with H5N1 had, in almost all cases, extensive physical contact with infected birds. Although the virus has not yet shown an ability to transmit efficiently between humans, as is seen with the annual human influenza virus epidemic, it raises a serious concern that it will acquire this capability through genetic mutation or exchange of genetic material with a human influenza virus.
Influenza causes approximately 36,000 deaths and more than 200,000 hospitalizations each year in the U.S. alone, and costs the U.S. over $10 billion annually. In addition, the last three pandemics, in 1918, 1957, and 1968, killed approximately 40 million, 2 million, and 1 million people worldwide, respectively.
There remains a pressing need for devices and methods that can accurately and rapidly detect the presence of Avian Flu to provide an early warning of a pandemic in order to contain the spread of the disease. An ideal system would (1) allow for retrieval, transmission, and analysis of data from such devices; and (2) provide a real-time warning system to health and government officials. The present invention satisfies this need and provides related advantages.